


the dessert of books

by zagspect



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: (editing this) i will pepper in a hint of (arthur voice) WHOOS YUE headcanonry, Gen, Pre-Canon, kids having a nice afternoon ;w;, spelling it xiaolang again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27625237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zagspect/pseuds/zagspect
Summary: Xiaolang loves magic, loves learning about it, reading about it. It's good to share that passion.
Relationships: Li Meiling & Li Syaoran
Kudos: 5





	the dessert of books

**Author's Note:**

> whats up guys uploading months old fic again. do you ever think about how much clow loves drawing anime girls? anyway im super sick i bet ill forget i posted this lmao

He's fully engrossed in his book and in a tall glass of iced tea, so he's not expecting the poke in the back of his head. Xiaolang jumps, nearly toppling the cup.

" _Meiling!_ " he hisses. "Watch it!"

Meiling grins at him, totally unapologetic.

"Whatcha reading?"

Xiaolang holds up the cover to her. It's an old looking book, hand bound, with no title and various symbols stamped on the cover that Meiling recognizes as Probably A Big Deal, but not as crumbly-ancient as lots of the books on Li family shelves.

  
"Magic study?" she asks.

"Yeah, one of Clow's. Mother has been prophesying about the calamity for days in a row-" Meiling feels a sense of pride warm her as he says that, there's just something fun about living in a family where that's a normal sentence to say- "So she suggested I should be studying up some more. Did you ever read this one?"

"Nah." Meiling shakes her head. "They didn't make me, so I didn't bother."

"It was always my favorite," he says, and Meiling can see him try not to smile. "So I saved it for after the harder ones. I'm still doing that to this day, honestly, I just muddled through three diaries trying to find information on the Judge."

"No luck?"

"No luck. Vague hints about a calamity, a Final Judgement, and then....... Nothing." He'd expected to, somehow, succeed where everyone else failed, find a coded message, invisible ink. Meiling had her theories when he complained about the scarcity of information - that only a person who would bribe or trick a judge without a second thought would be so nervous that _you_ would try it on _him_. Xiaolang does not want to hear it, doesn't want to have to defend the mystery and hardships of magic, the way there's always reasons for these things when you see the whole of the spell. If he does that, he'll spend the rest of the day with a guilty twist in his stomach and the feeling that he's rubbing something she can't have in her face. So he does what he does best- Changes the subject. 

"Anyway. It's like, the dessert of books, to me."

"A dessert? There'd better be spells or amulets for infinite cake in there or something." And maybe a way to use them even without your own magic. Anyone will tell you she's a great cook, but Meiling has yet to master the art of not ruining cake.

"Well, it's a breakdown of every element in his and his parents's magic circles, and what and how they contribute."

Meiling sticks her tongue out at him.

"Nerd."

"You take that _back_!", growls Xiaolang.

"You're the one saying your favorite book is an encyclopedia!"

"It's not just- well, look, that's what i was _getting_ to!", he splutters, and shows her the page he's on. Meiling squints at the handwritten words and reads a line aloud.

" _Venus was in a rush! She had overslept on the day of the school tri-_ hey, this is a chapter book!"

"It is!" Xiaolang says excitedly. He really can't hide his smile anymore, grinning ear to ear getting to explain the genius of his old favorite. "Clow wrote it like a school story, where each element is a classmate and he was the teacher."

Meiling is not as impressed.

"What? Weird."

"Well... it's silly, but it helped _so_ much when I was younger with remembering things."

"Are all magic textbooks like this?" Meiling asks. She flips through the book, pausing at illustrations.

"Wait, these are _really_ nice. Did i just totally miss out?"

"Probably." Xiaolang says seriously, and she punches him lightly in the arm. "But I can read it to you now, if you want."

She does want, and they spend an afternoon passing it back and forth, reading aloud.


End file.
